Seasonal food habits and prey selection of Amur tigers and Amur leopards in Northeast China

Haitao Yang,Hailong Dou,Tianming Wang,Raj Kumar Baniya,Pu Mou,Siyu Han,Yu Guan,Bing Xie,Guojing Zhao,Jianping Ge,Limin Feng

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-25275-1

Abstract

We analyzed the scats of Amur tigers and Amur leopards, and examined their annual and seasonal food habits in Northeast China to comprehend their coexistence. Wild boar had the highest annual and seasonal consumption frequencies by the tigers, while both roe deer and sika deer were mostly preyed by the leopards annually. The three species appeared to be the key preys in terms of high proportion of consumed biomass by the two felids. Our data also revealed numerous mid-sized carnivores and small mammals included in the two felids’ food list. We used the relative abundance and biomass density estimation in prey density estimation to calculate the prey preferences of tigers and leopards, and both methods confirmed that Amur tigers strongly preferred wild boar. However, preference estimations of Amur leopards were not consistant, or even opposite to one another from the two methods. The results of the study suggested that prey preference of predators is largely determined by body size of the prey species. Variation in diet composition of the two felids suggests that resource partitioning may contribute to their coexistence.

Highlights

Both Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) and Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) are endangered felids on the list of IUCN and the subspecies of both genera distributing in the northernmost of the ranges of the species
The relative abundance index (RAI) values for roe deer (Capreolus pygargus) were the highest in both winter (1.947) and summer (4.459), while the RAIs for sika deer (Cervus nippon) (0.548 and 1.835 in the winter and summer, respectively) and wild boar (Sus scrofa) (0.757 and 1.539 in winter and summer, respectively) were lower (Table 1)
Our dietary analysis revealed wild boar, sika deer and roe deer as the primary prey consumed by the tigers and the leopards with some seasonal variations

Summary

Introduction

Both Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) and Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis) are endangered felids on the list of IUCN and the subspecies of both genera distributing in the northernmost of the ranges of the species. Tigers and leopards prefer prey species of their own sizes[12,13], suggesting that preferred species of the Amur tiger and Amur leopard are likely different, thereby reducing competition for resources and increasing the likelihood of co-existence[14,15,16,17] Investigation of their food habits and prey selections would provide a better understanding of the predator-prey relationship and help define conservation priorities for both felids. In Northeast China and Far East Russia, available prey in terms of secondary productivity is lower than in more productive habitats in the tropical and subtropical areas, a fact that may aggravate competition between the two native carnivores Both are “ambush” predators (versus cursorial predators)[25] that increase the likelihood of dietary overlap, despite the differences in body sizes. We hypothesized that the resource utilization of tigers and leopards would be partitioning in their sympatric range in order to reduce the competition

Methods

Results

Conclusion